Canada’s MacKinnon, Bennett expected to play quarterfinal after missing practice

Jon Cooper, head coach of Canada’s Olympic men’s hockey team, told reporters that despite forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Sam Bennett missing practice on Tuesday, both are expected to play in their quarterfinal matchup on Wednesday.

“He’s a bull,” Cooper said when referring to MacKinnon.

The Canadian head coach also said that forward Brad Marchand, who has been out of the lineup in Canada’s last two games after playing in the preliminary round opener against Czechia, will be available for the quarterfinals.

Defenseman Josh Morrissey, who left their game against Czechia with an undisclosed injury, “looks good,” according to Cooper, but there’s been no update on his status for Wednesday.

The Canadians were the top team of Group A after winning all three games in the preliminary round, and their plus-17 goal differential was the tie breaker over the United States, who also went 3-0-0-0 in group play.

Canada will face the winner of Tuesday’s Czechia-Denmark game in the quarterfinals, which will take place on Wednesday at 10:40 a.m. ET.

Through three preliminary games, MacKinnon has two goals and three assists for five points. Meanwhile, Bennett has one assist.

Canadian forward Connor McDavid leads the tournament in scoring with nine points (two goals and seven assists), followed closely by Macklin Celebrini and Sidney Crosby, who each have six points.

In net, goaltender Jordan Binnington has allowed just two goals in two games, stopping 38 of 40 shots to post a .950 save percentage (SV%) and 1.00 goals against average (GAA).

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